There is still a scam ‘Sparrow Wallet’ app on the
@Apple
App Store, despite myself and others having reported it weeks ago.
Worse, you have to install it to report it.
Always go to the wallet’s website to find the link to download it. App stores will not protect you.
🔥 BIP 329 has just been merged. It's a standard for the import and export of transaction, address and other wallet labels. If you've ever been frustrated trying to transfer your labels from one wallet to another, ask for implementation of this BIP!
Another scam “Sparrow Wallet” app on the
@Apple
app store (id 6477822491). Despite the app store photos this is the screen presented on launch. There is no iOS Sparrow app.
Love this succinct explanation of why all currency security derives from energy consumption by ZmnSCPxj. Bitcoin’s is simply more direct, measureable and therefore efficient.
Web browsers are designed to download and run arbitrary code from the internet. They are a poor fit for wallets. Use native applications with reproducible builds.
What we're seeing today is a (digital) supply chain attack against code that is used by many crypto projects.
JS library attacks aren't new, but this one seems worse than usual because the library is "hot loaded" rather than pinned to a version with an integrity check hash.
Sparrow has left the nest!
Sparrow is a powerful desktop Bitcoin wallet, supporting:
1. Single and multisig wallets on all script types
2. Hardware wallets in USB and airgapped modes
3. PSBT
4. Transaction editor with script syntax highlighting
5. More!
From many conversations I had at
#Bitcoin2022
, it’s clear that there is a) increasing understanding that privacy needs to be built into the tools we use, and b) increasing response from those building the tools to add privacy features such as coinjoin.
Updated Electrum server performance report:
The tl;dr? Fulcrum, a previously untested implementation, has emerged a clear winner:
• 300x faster than Electrs loading wallets
• 2-3 days to build the index on an RPi4
• Low CPU utilisation serving queries
An important factor for any
#Bitcoin
wallet is loading transactions from the blockchain.
@SparrowWallet
is no different, depending on the address indexes provided by projects such as Electrs and ElectrumX.
They are not the same! A comparison:
Every Bitcoiner should read this thread. Practice using RBF to change the destination address of your transaction. Mistakes are always possible, and unless you are ready, the outcome is final.
Just sent a life changing amount of sats to the wrong address.
Recovered them with rbf cuz the mempool was full.
Gonna go die from the heart attack I just had. It was nice knowing you all.
To be clear, I am not opposed to CTV. The proposal itself is now well reviewed and has the potential to provide solutions in scaling, privacy and security (often with considerable accompanying complexity).
The number of people working in Bitcoin is surprisingly small given it’s cultural impact and media status.
If you contribute to Bitcoin, you are one of the few.
An important factor for any
#Bitcoin
wallet is loading transactions from the blockchain.
@SparrowWallet
is no different, depending on the address indexes provided by projects such as Electrs and ElectrumX.
They are not the same! A comparison:
HOW TO SELF CUSTODY BITCOIN USING LAPTOP OR DESKTOP PC. READ ENTIRE THREAD BEFORE ATTEMPTING AT HOME.
STEP 1: Download and install Sparrow Desktop. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Whatever the proposal, I will continue to evaluate it on the key principles of self sovereignty. Without them, I believe we will simply end up in another fractional reserve, fiat world.
Apart from the fact that the conclusion itself is false, this tweet demonstrates the kind of mindless maximalism that has become pervasive on Twitter.
Regardless of who built it, Fulcrum is simply a better engineering solution in the ways that matter.
I'm surprised how everybody seems to ditch
#Electrs
, a great
#Bitcoin
FOSS Electrum server built by
@roman_zeyde
.
For an alternative (
#Fulcrum
) built and paid for by BCashers, with Bitcoin added as an afterthought. All for some performance gains irrelevant for personal nodes.
Great news for Bitcoin privacy. Wider application level support of popular privacy protocols leads to greater anonymity sets and increasing normalization of these techniques.
Sparrow v1.5.1 released with:
Add multiple accounts to a wallet
Lock open wallets for privacy
Core RPC over Tor support
Many Whirlpool related improvements
Changelog:
Huge. Have been waiting a year for this. Apart from the reduced storage, Electrs v0.9.0 uses far less CPU and can handle multiple large wallets with ease. Congrats to
@roman_zeyde
@kixunil
for a great job 👏
electrs v0.9.0 is now released 🎉
Many thanks to all the contributors, reviewers and testers - much appreciated!
- Index DB uses ~60% less storage
- Faster incremental sync
- Electrum RPC batching support
- And a great new logo :)
Privacy is a journey for us all.
When I created Sparrow, it supported private Electrum servers only.
Now, I've realised that greater change is possible by making it easy to start, and encouraging greater privacy through in-app education and a clear upgrade path.
🟡🟢🔵
Sparrow 1.2.0 released with:
Provide a list of preconfigured public servers to connect to
Update welcome dialog to explain risks and the privacy journey
Export transactions to CSV
Add signet support
Great to see this - repeating payments are a very good fit for BIP47, and this marks another milestone in its adoption. Expecting further applications of it in similar areas such as DCA focused exchanges and wage processors.
This is our 40th update since our public launch, September last year and this is one of the greatest.
Changing the privacy game for
#Bitcoin
miners and setting new standards for the industry.
If you are running
@SparrowWallet
with Electrs, this will be a big upgrade 🚀
Node projects, consider prioritizing work on merging this - it uses considerably less resources and fixes a number of issues.
electrs v0.9.0-rc1 is released 🎉
Many thanks to all the contributors, reviewers and testers - much appreciated!
- Index DB uses ~60% less storage
- Faster incremental sync
- Electrum RPC batching support
See for more details and upgrade instructions:
The world is in the midst of an epic battle between individual rights and freedoms on one side, and (eventually) complete state control by the biggest thug on the other.
I know which side I'm on.
#bitcoin
- for humanity.
A significant result - it may take slightly longer to index than Electrs, but the reward for those extra few hours is a highly performant server that will power Sparrow, Dojo, Mempool, BTC RPC Explorer, Electrum and more.
#Fulcrum
🚀
@craigraw
@RaspiBlitz
@raspibolt
Got the first sync of
#Fulcrum
completed within 48 hours on the RPi4 where ElectrumX took 6.5 days:
with these settings:
Make sure to disable the peer discovery and public server options to avoid it announcing the local IP address.
If you're a dev looking to get into
#Bitcoin
, here's something that's really needed:
Cross-platform desktop software that makes verifying a download using GPG dead simple. It's too intimidating and many won't do it. And it should be done!
@craigraw
@matt_odell
@SparrowWallet
As a noob, I think a solid instructional video/guide on verifying and what is actually happening when you do the verification would be helpful.
I think part of the issue is differences in the three main OS system: Mac / Windows / Linux
@Stadicus3000
@roman_zeyde
Electrs simply doesn’t scale as the wallet depth increases. It is not scalable to reparse all the blocks your wallet has transactions in, on the fly, every time you need to look them up.
This is hardly irrelevant - it is critical for anyone actually transacting regularly.
@murchandamus
@BitcoinErrorLog
Requiring a laptop, plus the disk space required, plus the bandwidth required, plus the time to scan the chain. Big assumptions for many less fortunate in this world, for whom BIP47 already provides a practical way to receive funds non-interactively.
Smaller signatures not only save on blockchain space and fees, but make it easier for wallets to estimate the fee accurately.
It also means the nonce generation is done in the same way as Bitcoin Core, which further minimizes trust in the implementation.
Well this is fun - Sparrow user ‘James B.’ has an issue, creates a Slashdot listing to post a terrible review, and even though I’ve claimed the page there’s no way to respond and help them. Thanks
@slashdot
:/
Couldn’t agree more. Testnet sounds scary, but it couldn’t be simpler.
On Sparrow:
1. Tools > Restart in Testnet
2. Use the provided public server
3. Receive tBTC from one of these faucets:
4. Practice! RBF, privacy optimized transactions, even Whirlpool
Transacting and storing wealth securely in Bitcoin is scary...
If you haven't practiced enough.
@SamouraiWallet
+
@SparrowWallet
both have testnet settings. Get stuck in, make mistakes and learn. Happy to send tBTC if you want to get started.
@mutatrum
@SparrowWallet
My thinking at the time was that the threat of banning “unhosted” wallets completely was greater than that of streamlining address ownership proofs. Not the right call - easier to see now than it was then!
Finally, the derivation paths widely adopted for Segwit multisig wallets are documented in a BIP.
Standards are important to maintain compatibility between wallets - this is another step forward for safer multisig.
Thanks
@Fonta1n3
!
Very happy to see Fulcrum becoming more readily available. Dojo users need to enable it in docker-indexer.conf. It will take a little longer to index, but it’s so worth it 🔥
Samourai Dojo v1.15.0 has been released.
Most notable feature of this release is integration of Fulcrum - a performant Electrum server implementation.
Thanks to all the contributors.
The
@RaspiBolt
guide is how I setup my first node many years ago, and it’s still the guide I trust for the nodes I setup today. An honour for
@SparrowWallet
to be included.
BREAKING:
@SparrowWallet
is now part of the
@RaspiBolt
guide!
It aligns well with our ethos: easy to connect to your own
#Bitcoin
node, and it gives great insights into its inner workings.
Use it with your hardware wallet.
From easy to expert level!
CoinJoin coordinators are simply message passers. This is true of Wasabi & Whirlpool. They are not money transmitters, they are not facilitators they simply pass data packets to connected clients. Clients never surrender custody to any 3rd party. Clients collaborate w/ each other
My point was rather that if we hyperfocus on rapid scaling, there is a risk of compromise of key principles around self custody and permissionless access.
Sparrow v1.3.2 released with:
Minimize to tray functionality (View menu)
SSL server certificate pinning
Export addresses as CSV (Addresses screen)
Automatically switch between internal and external Tor as required
Upgrade to HWI 2.0.1
It’s not for everyone, but
#Raspibolt
is how I setup all my nodes. It’s an excellent guide to configuring and securing key components of a sovereign Bitcoin server. Happy to see it updated!
Three's the charm: check out the completely revamped
#RaspiBolt
version 3 in glorious raspberry pink! 🎉
With this guide, you can set up a
#Bitcoin
and Lightning ⚡ node from scratch, doing everything yourself.
@w_s_bitcoin
@MomsInBitcoin1
@rektbuildr
No, Sparrow does not do any user tracking. I don’t even have analytics on the website.
I also agree that browsers are not a good fit for wallets (including extensions and electron apps).
Given my
@SparrowWallet
101 a big update. The new version covers...
- Main features
- Download verification
- Initial setup
- Importing, receiving + sending w/
@COLDCARDwallet
- Creating a 2-of-3 multisig w/ Coldcard
@CoboVault
+
@SpecterWallet
DIY
Some credits are in order:
@jimmysong
for showing transactions are easier to understand with good color highlighting (here is a relative time locked P2SH-P2WSH):
@NWHODL
@Diverter_NoKYC
@BitcoinQ_A
@Trezor
Not comfortable with it, and happy to take it out. It’s actually pretty meaningless though (you’re on the hook for those KYC funds anyway). My thought at the time was that the threat against “unhosted” wallets was real - even worse than KYC is exchange only wallets.
As an application developer I am time constrained to reviewing and building on top of these proposals, not actively developing them. I tend to favour things that I know people will have an immediate use for - for example, OP_VAULT, which uses CTV.
Although Electrs indexes a smaller index quicker (32Gb vs 102Gb for Fulcrum), once this index is built the benefits in query performance, reliability and prolonged hardware lifespan will soon outweigh this cost.
This concern drives me above all others. A ban of self-custody in too many places will allow low risk rehypothecation and directly affect scarcity. Yes, NgU!
The solution is to make it politically unpalatable by getting many people to self custody. This is the fight.
Some great innovation here - in particular UR as a format for sending PSBTs and key information over QR. Standards like this make it easier to interoperate and help everyone move forward.
Blockchain Commons is working to advance the state of cryptocurrency wallets with interoperable specifications. We've got many different ongoing initiatives, so we recently produced a video to introduce them all. [1/14]
After reflecting on this I've proposed adding an optional 'origin' property to BIP329, which allows a label to reference the wallet it was exported from via key origin information as used in output descriptors.
@craigraw
How does this deal with a user having the same transaction in two accounts, e.g. sending coins from A to B in the same wallet? If there is only one file for the whole wallet, the tx label would be the same in both accounts, which is not desirable.
We are happy to announce that Fulcrum is officially part of a
#Bitcoin
bonus guide!
It is an alternative to Electrum servers, being the most performant and completely worth the sync time!
@openoms
Both native Segwit and Taproot working well. The developer appears relatively chain agnostic.
It would be interesting to see if ZRAM can improve indexing time with the Fulcrum fast sync parameter!
@BTCsessions
@JakobFN
@SparrowWallet
The need to backup the wallet file or the output descriptor is the key “gotcha” with multisig wallets. It does get discussed regularly, but we can always do more.
Replace By Fee is a great tool to master - you can not only save on fees, but recover from mistakes.
Low fee tx taking too long to confirm? RBF it to a higher fee rate.
Sent a transaction to the wrong address? If it's still in the mempool, just RBF to the right one.
@EthanBitcoin
@discoveringbtc
It’s input & output order, which personally I needed last year for testing/bugfixing. Regardless, been meaning to add it for years, given you can edit every other part of the tx already. It’s also useful for docs & some want it for privacy reasons. I have no interest in ordinals.
If you need a place to start, here is the head of the BIS talking about the future of cash. CBDCs mean every transaction is visible to the state, your money can be confiscated arbitrarily, and there is no lower bound on negative interest rates.
In case it wasn’t obvious to you yet, here’s the head of the Bank of International Settlements clarifying that the difference between cash and CBDCs is that the former provides privacy while the latter gives the central bank “absolute control” 🥶
I’ve been following this series from
@econoalchemist
all week, and it’s proving to be as good as expected.
Here, he does a great job of introducing
@SparrowWallet
. Bravo and thank you!
Part 4 of a 5-part series: Installing, securing, & using
@SparrowWallet
on desktop.
A thread for total Bitcoin beginners who want to use a
#Bitcoin
wallet on desktop.
Is it possible for an address index to be performant in both initial indexing and handling the needs of deep wallets?
I believe so! Hopefully in learning from the choices these implementations have made, we can improve performance to match our growing needs. 🚀
So impressed with this vid. Clear, thorough and accessible,
@BTCsessions
is a master at explaining how to use
@SparrowWallet
in a variety of wallet setups 👏👏👏
@reardencode
@gladstein
@1440000bytes
The ~8% reduction in fees is for the current average of 2-3 inputs and outputs. An incentive to reduce fees in a high fee rate environment would likely increase this, while reducing the effectiveness of the common input ownership heuristic.
@KeithMukai
@vnprc
@SparrowWallet
@SwanBitcoin
@BraiinsPool
A reason BIP47 has adoption is because it is compatible with light clients, such as those that support the Electrum protocol. Silent Payments is not so much an updated protocol as one with a different set of tradeoffs, one of which is lack of native light client support.
@EthanBitcoin
@discoveringbtc
Docs frequently include screenshots showing the transaction diagram. Specific ordering there can make things easier to understand.
Personally I believe that random is always better for privacy, but my philosophy is have good defaults but don’t dictate. Can’t know every use case
@MF_HODL
Yes single or multiple UTXOs can be selected in the UTXO panel. When sending, coin selection is indicated by the lock icon on the left in the transaction diagram:
@ODELL
A better approach is to have clear separation between parties providing the wallet software, and the server it connects to. Ideally use your own node/server, but if you connect to a public server use one run by a 3rd party with a record of supporting privacy. See
@SparrowWallet
@statusquont
This article by
@murchandamus
hints at some interesting possibilities. Plus timelocks too. Work required though to find out what configurations are most generally useful.
@CasaHODL
Unfortunately we are likely to see more of this in future as Bitcoin holdings grow in value.
This is where geographically separated multisig wins. If this attack worries you, it may be time to start skilling up.
1/ Sparrow is taking a standards based approach to privacy. The Payjoin standard (BIP78) is relatively new, but already supported by
@BTCPayServer
and several wallets. Hardware wallets should be able to sign Payjoin transactions too (
@COLDCARDwallet
support soon!).
Sparrow v0.9.7 released with:
Payjoin (BIP78) support!
UR (QR) support for importing keystores, output descriptors, xpubs and addresses
Many other small fixes and improvements